Shapes, Intellectual Property Rights and Where’s My Desktop App?”

The 12-Pac is here.

Sean was quick to put his GIS skills to work and create a shape that gets me excited (ignoring the fact that Arizona State has no football team anymore). Bring it on Utah and Colorado! Kudos to BT for calling him out for not using a good projection. At least use Albers!

Intellectual Property Rights

One of the better blogs out there is the Spatial Law and Policy Blog. Kevin talks about intellectual property rights and GIS data:

I am still trying to understand the implications of the recent announcement regarding ESRI and Geodata.gov. It certainly has caused a great deal of concern within the geospatial community. According to this post from the All Points Blog, such concern may be unnecessary. However, given that (i) in the U.S. federal government data is not protected by copyright, (ii) the Obama Administration has been pushing greater transparency with respect to government operations, and (iii) the improvements in technology and open standards, I am surprised that the items Sean?Gorman?discusses in this post are still an issue with respect to federal government data.

More good stuff over there to stay up on the law and geospatial.

OpenGeo Suite 2.0

So it appears OpenGeo has released the 2.0 version of their OpenGeo Suite. Looks great including the pgShapeLoader. OpenGeo continue to refine and improve their open source derived product. Only thing missing is a desktop client.

Where is my StreetView?

So the US Open is going on and there seems to be no Google Street View of the golf course. Shame on you Google!

June 17, 2010 Thoughts






Shapes, Intellectual Property Rights and Where’s My Desktop App?”

The 12-Pac is here.

Sean was quick to put his GIS skills to work and create a shape that gets me excited (ignoring the fact that Arizona State has no football team anymore). Bring it on Utah and Colorado! Kudos to BT for calling him out for not using a good projection. At least use Albers!

Intellectual Property Rights

One of the better blogs out there is the Spatial Law and Policy Blog. Kevin talks about intellectual property rights and GIS data:

I am still trying to understand the implications of the recent announcement regarding ESRI and Geodata.gov. It certainly has caused a great deal of concern within the geospatial community. According to this post from the All Points Blog, such concern may be unnecessary. However, given that (i) in the U.S. federal government data is not protected by copyright, (ii) the Obama Administration has been pushing greater transparency with respect to government operations, and (iii) the improvements in technology and open standards, I am surprised that the items Sean?Gorman?discusses in this post are still an issue with respect to federal government data.

More good stuff over there to stay up on the law and geospatial.

OpenGeo Suite 2.0

So it appears OpenGeo has released the 2.0 version of their OpenGeo Suite. Looks great including the pgShapeLoader. OpenGeo continue to refine and improve their open source derived product. Only thing missing is a desktop client.

Where is my StreetView?

So the US Open is going on and there seems to be no Google Street View of the golf course. Shame on you Google!

June 17, 2010 Thoughts






Geographic Information Systems Q&A at Stack Exchange Continues to Move Forward

Got some good news via email tonight:

Hey there!

A Q&A site proposal which you are following, Geographic Information Systems, is now moving into the commitment phase. If you plan to participate in this site, please indicate your support by committing:

Commit to Geographic Information Systems

A good Q&A site needs critical mass to get off the ground, so if the site doesn’t receive enough commitment, we won’t create it. Don’t forget to invite your friends and colleagues to help build support and momentum. Click here to refer your friends:

Refer your friends

Thank you!

Head Alien in Charge Area 51 http://area51.stackexchange.com

I’m glad to see this effort continue to gain traction. I suggest everyone go over and commit” to making the GIS Stack Exchange website work. If you are unfamiliar with Stack Exchange, you should read up on it (or see Stack Overflow). Once enough people commit, the site moves on to closed beta and only those who committed can participate at that stage.

So take a minute and commit to making the GIS Stack Exchange work. Don’t forget to pass it on.

June 15, 2010 Thoughts






Geographic Information Systems Q&A at Stack Exchange Continues to Move Forward

Got some good news via email tonight:

Hey there!

A Q&A site proposal which you are following, Geographic Information Systems, is now moving into the commitment phase. If you plan to participate in this site, please indicate your support by committing:

Commit to Geographic Information Systems

A good Q&A site needs critical mass to get off the ground, so if the site doesn’t receive enough commitment, we won’t create it. Don’t forget to invite your friends and colleagues to help build support and momentum. Click here to refer your friends:

Refer your friends

Thank you!

Head Alien in Charge Area 51 http://area51.stackexchange.com

I’m glad to see this effort continue to gain traction. I suggest everyone go over and commit” to making the GIS Stack Exchange website work. If you are unfamiliar with Stack Exchange, you should read up on it (or see Stack Overflow). Once enough people commit, the site moves on to closed beta and only those who committed can participate at that stage.

So take a minute and commit to making the GIS Stack Exchange work. Don’t forget to pass it on.

June 15, 2010 Thoughts






This Just In — Excel Is The World’s Most Used Database”

I’m sure none of us make it though a day without running into one of these wonderful Excel databases people create. Personally I also like using Excel to plan my garden. Is there nothing this thing can’t do?

Take a look at this sweet map I made in Excel of the oil spill in the gulf. I’d upload it to GeoCommons if they just supported Excel.

Wut? I got it all mapped!Wut? I got it all mapped!

June 14, 2010 Thoughts






This Just In — Excel Is The World’s Most Used Database”

I’m sure none of us make it though a day without running into one of these wonderful Excel databases people create. Personally I also like using Excel to plan my garden. Is there nothing this thing can’t do?

Take a look at this sweet map I made in Excel of the oil spill in the gulf. I’d upload it to GeoCommons if they just supported Excel.

Wut? I got it all mapped!Wut? I got it all mapped!

June 14, 2010 Thoughts